Five Movies You Need to See in Cinemas This Month

Whether you're on a date, catching up with your friends, or just looking for a way to kill a few hours on a Tuesday night, there are few modern indulgences that beat settling into a dark cinema and letting your worries escape you as you slip into another world. Spies, superheroes, lovers, musicians, presidents, dictators, robbers and cops: you'll encounter them all as the lights go down and the projector begins to whir.

There's plenty afoot a the pictures this month, so we're here to give you a little bit of help with choosing tonight's movie. See you at the candy bar.

SWEET COUNTRY

What our critic said: "Though Sweet Country peers back almost a century, to a time when Australia was caught between its colonial past and the gleaming promise of a modernised future, the attitudes and struggles it explores remain painfully relevant today."

SWINGING SAFARI

What our critic said: "If Swinging Safari teaches viewers one thing, it's that fickle entertainment and amusement were high on everyone's agenda in '70s Australia, while seriousness and subtlety most definitely were not."

THE POST

What our critic said: "With frames filled with period detail and steely hues (the picture was shot by his now 16-time cinematographer Janusz Kaminski), Spielberg favours an old-fashioned, no-nonsense approach that nonetheless proves thoroughly rousing. And really, how better to handle a movie like this?"

THE SHAPE OF WATER

What our critic said: "Equally vivid and violent as it jumps between matters of the heart and moments of espionage, the film entrances with its sweet, soulful, delicate approach while never shying away from weighty themes of persecution or oppression."